orston sold under new management

as above all change at orston new owners heckler and Koch

A fantastic ground which was in my opinion ruined by the last owners it used to be a family run place where you always felt welcome on arrival .

It turned cold and uninviting When it was first taken over the wife of the new owner said “ I hate these old age pensioners they are always moaning “ the ground over the next few years lost over 40% of the regular shooters due to the rude attitude of the owners . You couldn’t get it through to them that this is the East Midlands not Cheltenham and we earn Agricultural wages not £60,000 + gradually they closed down the skeet , DTL , Balltrap and Trench offering less disciplines to shoot . The final nail in the coffin was closing on Sundays which was the only day working class people were able to shoot . Let’s hope that the new owners bring it back to its former glory and make it a nice place to go in the future. In the last few weeks I have spoken to over a dozen people who have said that they will go back now the old owners have gone . I wish the new owners all the best in running this ground and bringing it back to a happy and warm environment for all to use .

Never found the owners to be overly friendly, saving grace was the ground was well kept

I think people are being too harsh on the previous owners, running a business in the current market means tough decisions have to made. Couple that with the high inflation, cost of living crisis etc its harder and harder for a business to make an actual profit. Some decisions may of been seen as mean but with the overall decline of clay shooting if it doesnt make money people will cut back on those services. I rarely see people doing skeet, dtl or trench so i guess removing the running cost of these makes sense. I always found whatever they put on, ran smoothly, timely and was fair. Ground owners aren't meant to be your mates, they run a business not a social group.

TerryTibbs said:

I think people are being too harsh on the previous owners, running a business in the current market means tough decisions have to made. Couple that with the high inflation, cost of living crisis etc its harder and harder for a business to make an actual profit. Some decisions may of been seen as mean but with the overall decline of clay shooting if it doesnt make money people will cut back on those services. I rarely see people doing skeet, dtl or trench so i guess removing the running cost of these makes sense. I always found whatever they put on, ran smoothly, timely and was fair. Ground owners aren't meant to be your mates, they run a business not a social group.

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Thinking back a few years when Charlie and his family ran the ground, the DTL layout was always busy. In fact, they probably made as much from the trap as they did other disciplines.

You're right, difficult decisions have to be made running a business but kindness costs little and that seems to have been lacking under the previous owners tenure.

Knew Dan & Emily from their time at Prescott Shooting nr Cheltenham, both were good hosts and like many “regulars” didnt hear a bad word, wish them, and the new owners of Orston all the very best

Agree with Rich. I've worked for Danny as a ref when he ran Prescott and shot there a few times also. I never saw or heard of either Emily or Danny being anything other than good hosts.

I've shot at Orston quite a bit and bought my dt11 from Dan out the shop there.

I understand that any form of critism of the ground or the targets was never very well received, but I always found them to be very friendly and accommodating and Dan looked after me very well when I bought my dt11 from them.

They certainly knew how to run a comp and I enjoyed some great shoots there. The first time they did the clay shooting classic there was a fantastic shoot, but shot many a great shoot there.

Wish them all the best in the future and hope the new owners carry on with the clay shooting.

I've been to Orston a few times and it's always been great.

The receptionist is really friendly and always makes you feel welcome and the ground has been impeccably maintained with very few issues with traps ever experienced.

Last few times the shop has been a bit poor but they explained that they were running down stock and weren't sure what was happening with the sale which is understandable.

I've only been once but thought it was a great place. 1 trap was not working, the lads were there in minutes and sorted it out.

My favourite ground, extremely well maintained, lots of variety for sporting and enough stands that it's never really busy. It's a shame they've changed the registered events to Saturdays and squadded; given that the turnout seems to have halved I suspect they might revert to the old arrangements. Hopefully the membership prices will get reviewed and maybe become more realistic!

Great ground started of really promising it was a shame about the owners . A crowd of us used to shoot there but they soon put us off

always found it to be a very unwelcoming place.and that was under the last two owners.

new owners at orston so far have been great they have considered suggestions and are willing to listen so far they have reduced cost of clays for members and non members and given free buggies for blue badge holders its early days Rome wasn't built in a day but it looks very promising for the future !! PS guns arriving and a huge selection of cartridges to chose from !

REDUCED the cost of clays. Take note everybody else.

I have only been once maybe 18 months ago. I only shot with my Mrs and a couple of friends. One of which was taking a gun back which he had purchased new from there and was having issues regarding it firing the second barrel. Was genuinely told it cost less than £1k new what do u expect it’s not a lot of money. It was admittedly rectified and he was intact furnished with a new gun but if £1k is your budget it’s all the money in the world and they were happy enough to take his not much money in this chaps words. Anyway the ground I really enjoyed can’t remember the price of clays but it is what it is these days unfortunately. Glad to hear someone made the jump and is making positive progress. Going to try and get there in the next couple of months see if I can’t improve my current CPSA standing

The price of clays is what grounds think they can get away with. Orston are showing that this is overinflated somewhat.

jasper said:

The price of clays is what grounds think they can get away with. Orston are showing that this is overinflated somewhat.

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I pay 24p and 28p in my 2 local grounds

SBL said:

I pay 24p and 28p in my 2 local grounds

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I dream of 24p a clay. I recently checked half a dozen places in the South West and it ranges between 35p and 45p a clay. If anyone knows of anywhere decent that costs less, I’d be keen to know.

We pay 20p at our local and for that money it cannot be beaten at all. Having said that I don’t think 40p is out of the way as long as the ground and targets reflect so. My favourite ground Grimsthorpe is 40p and I can see why. I think the issue is when you know someone is charging what they can get away with as opposed to what the amount of effort they put in reflects.